This week, the Boulder County Commissioners told its residents that 8 North LLC, a subsidiary of Extraction Oil and Gas, LLC had applied with the State of Colorado for permits to drill a 1,280-acre area at the far eastern edge of Boulder County, right up to the line on the map that separates long time oil-friendly Weld County and the loudly anti-oil and gas Boulder County.
In September Boulder County’s Board of County Commissioners warned its residents the oil companies were preparing applications for some drill sites in the county and it sought residents’ help to push back against any oil and gas drilling on the proposed Boulder County sites.
The September ‘warning email’ from the Boulder County Commissioners told residents that 8 North had filed paperwork with the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (“COGCC”) to begin the state permitting process for oil and gas development in two areas of Boulder County. “The company has not directly communicated to Boulder County about their plans,” the commissioners said.
On October 16, the Boulder County Commissioners filed two formal protests with the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) protesting the Drilling and Spacing Unit applications submitted by 8 North–one protest document for each proposed drilling area.
The county commissioners said that the City of Lafayette had joined with Boulder County in filing this week’s protest for the 8 North southern drilling and spacing unit application that includes a portion of the City of Lafayette.
The Boulder County Commissioners said in a statement, “… filing these protests prevents the COGCC from administratively approving the applications without a full hearing.”
Both Boulder County and the City of Lafayette have put frac bans or moratoria in place in the past.
Lafayette had its ‘voter-approved’ frac ban tossed out by a judge in August of 2014. But in September the city proposed a yearlong fracing moratorium in wake of the drilling plans proposed by 8 North. Boulder had a frac ban in place for a number of years until the Colorado Attorney General sued Boulder County over it. That ban shortly thereafter expired and the suit was dropped.
“We will oppose the drilling and spacing applications when they come up for a hearing before the COGCC, and urge concerned residents to do the same,” the Boulder County Commissioners said.
